The first film was great. The second was a bit lackluster. The third? It might not reach the heights of the first but it’s got a lot of fun things that altogether make it quite an enjoyable film.
After failing to capture former child actor turned supervillain Balthazar Bratt, Gru and Lucy are fired from their jobs as secret agents. Gru then meets his long lost twin brother, Dru, who wants his help to get back into the family business of villainy. It’s not a very original concept for a story of course, but it’s still quite fun and has a couple of twists and turns, some predictable, some less so. The Minions abandoning Gru is an interesting idea, and seeing them having to fend for themselves is quite amusing.
The Minions are still a massive part of this movie though. For the first 10 minutes of the movie I found them a little annoying and was worried that it was going to lean too heavily on them just doing their thing, but they are still actually very funny and the movie doesn’t rely on them being front and centre. Front and centre is Gru’s relationship with his brother, Dru. They have quite a complicated relationship, with Gru having never even known of Dru’s existence until now. And Gru’s struggle about whether to get back into the villain business also adds some extra strain, with him torn about whether to try and get his job as a spy back or rebel with his brother.
There’s also a story involving Lucy trying to be a mother to the three girls. It’s quite touching and is a nice evolution from the previous two films. The voice acting is all still great. Stevel Carrell as both Gru and the subtly different Dru is hilarious. He’s really great as a man of two minds and also as two men with separate minds. Kristen Wiig is very affable as Lucy and Trey Parker as the childish 80’s villain Bratt is awesome. His villain gets a good amount of screentime of his own and his backstory is fleshed out quite a bit. Having an 80’s themed villain also makes for some great gadgets and music cues and is pretty fun to watch.
It might not be the best in the series so far, but this is another strong entry into the ever growing franchise and is a pretty fun watch for all ages. It’s funny and has some heart in there too, but most of all is just a pretty enjoyable romp.
JACK’S SCORE: 4/5
Jack-Types-Stuff 